


Enough

by onlyhereforellick



Series: Fictober ‘19 [28]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Done!Tim, F/M, fictober 19, only mention of tiva
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 01:37:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21218420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyhereforellick/pseuds/onlyhereforellick
Summary: Sometimes you’re wrong...but it’s never too late to make it right.





	Enough

**Author's Note:**

> fictober 19; prompt 28: “Enough! I heard enough.”
> 
> for that request in the ether on tumblr, hopefully it’s sort of what you envisioned!

It had been a relatively routine week in the Navy Yard. A couple open and shut cases, running down dead-end leads on cold cases, catching up on paperwork. For the team, they were enjoying the slight pause to the constant sprinting they’d been doing recently. For Gibbs, it seemed like he was getting antsy. McGee couldn’t quite place it, but he’d been on edge for a while now. 

Initially he thought it was from Emily and Ziva, but that should have subsided. Emily was making leaps and bounds in recovery and rehab. Ziva had finally reached back out after three months of radio silence to let them know she was contacting Tony and Tali. She told Gibbs and McGee she’d be visiting again in the spring, after things settled down at home. The excitement mixed with bone-deep exhaustion and relief was palpable in her voice over the phone. Ziva was  _finally_ getting what she’d wanted for so many years. Tony would  _finally_ be getting the woman he pined after, searched for, and grieved over for so many years. 

It brought a small smile of gratefulness to McGee’s face as he thought back through the turmoil he’d witnessed from this very bullpen. The constant push and pull of Tony and Ziva, the anguish he faced when she disappeared, not once but twice, the pure grief—and even that wasn’t a strong enough word for it—he experienced when she was presumed dead. There weren’t words for his happiness for his two dear friends that would be finally getting the future together they deserved.

A bubble of laughter from across the floor caught his attention as he focused back in on the present. Nick stood behind Ellie’s desk, leaning over her shoulder looking at something on her phone. His hand lightly placed on her opposite shoulder, intertwined with a few locks of her hair. Ellie glanced up at him with a look in her eyes that Tim recognized all too well—_l__ove_. 

They’d been dating for about three months now, essentially right after Nick had been hypnotized. It was secret, sure, but everyone knew. No one decided to address the elephant in the room, purely out of fear of what Gibbs would say, but they all knew. Nick and Ellie, they tried to keep it quiet, minimize the touches, the longing looks, all of it, but stuff slipped through. Tim always volunteered to go solo or team up with Gibbs to give them some time together; he was pretty sure Gibbs was catching on to his strategy though. All McGee wanted was for his friends and coworkers to be happy. He’d seen this before, he knew the outcome of one path—it was  _not_ a path they wanted to embark on. And Gibbs...well he wasn’t ignoring it per say, no it was more of a purposeful block. 

Ellie laughed again, the noise lilting over to where McGee sat and the smile on his face widen. He really hadn’t seen her so happy in...well ever. Nick brought that out of her, and for that McGee was glad. He’d take the brotherly ribbing of his nerd status, the tight muscle shirts, and the Latin music blasting any day if it made Ellie happy. Out of all of them, she deserved it, she really truly deserved it. 

McGee opened his mouth to make a teasing comment on Nick’s location—aka not behind his desk—but Gibbs beat Tim to it. It wasn’t quite as joking as McGee would have put it.

“Torres! You have a desk for a reason.” Gibbs’ harsh tone ground out halting any laughter in the bullpen. 

“Uh-, what boss?” Nick’s attention from Ellie diverted as he slowly righted himself, looking at Gibbs with confusion. 

“I said. You have a desk. For a reason. Use it.” Gibbs pointedly looked between Nick and Ellie, and then over to Nick’s desk. He proceeded to turn his attention back to the case folder in front of him as if it was the end of the conversation.

Nick’s eyes flitted down to Ellie and she gave him the slightest shake of her head, telling him to stand down. Tim wasn’t surprised when Nick did the exact opposite. He puffed out his chest and firmly rooted his feet to his spot. “I have finished my paperwork, we do not have new leads, we do not have a body. I can hear my phone if it rings. I have no reason to be at my desk. Therefore—“ Nick paused for effect, “I will continue to stand at Ellie’s so she can show me a new app Kasie recently downloaded for us to track evidence more efficiently.”

McGee’s chest inflated at the pride he felt for Nick. He stood his ground, he sounded like a nerd, he was in the right. 

Gibbs was not having it. “If you’re done for the day, then you can go home, Torres. Alone.” The strong undercurrent of  _without Bishop_ was not missed on any of them.

Torres being Torres didn’t give in like a smart man, he took a step towards Gibbs’ desk, fists clenched at his sides. Without a moment’s hesitation Gibbs’ shot up, desk chair flying back to hit the cubicle wall behind him. He matched Nick’s stance in a heartbeat. 

“Torres, don’t.” Gibbs started.

Nick opened his mouth to argue back, but Tim was done. D- O- N- E, done. Sick of this Rule 12 bullshit that had everyone scared to feel. Scared to be with the person they were meant to be with. Why was he allowed to be in a relationship just because his significant other worked in a different department? No, this ended now.

McGee stood up himself with a force that stopped both Torres and Gibbs in their tracks. “Enough! I heard enough.” McGee’s voice was raised, but he didn’t even care. All three of them were staring at him mouths agape, eyes wide. Bishop from her seat tried to send him a pleading look to quit now, to not get involved.  _To hell with that__._ “I’ve sat back long enough keeping mum. I’m done, Gibbs.”

“Done with  _what_, McGee?” Gibbs turned his upper body in his direction.

“Done with this—“ Tim waved his hands around wildly in the air until he redirected and waved them more pointedly at Nick and Ellie. Ellie flushed red so fast he could’ve blinked and missed it. Tim soldiered on, “this frankly,  _stupid_, rule you have that has been ruining my friends lives for over a decade.”

Gibbs eyes bugged and nostrils flared when he caught Tim’s insinuation about Ziva and Tony, too. He now turned to fully face McGee as he rounded his desk. Tim stayed firmly put with both fists on his desk top, he was in this for the long haul. 

“You know  _nothing_ about the importance of those rules.” Gibbs challenged him. 

“Oh yeah? Because you know your ‘rules’ so well yourself?” Gibbs at least had the audacity to balk. Out of the corner of his eye, Tim saw Nick return to Ellie’s side as he squatted down to lay an arm over her shoulders to comfort her. Ellie looked to be on the verge of tears, and it only fueled him on. 

Gibbs warned him, “McGee...don’t start something you don’t want to finish.”

“Oh, see, I want to finish this. You know why? I’ve had far past the point of enough with this. I know you see their personal relationship, I know you see them keeping a perfectly professional relationship at work, I know you see it hasn’t affected their work ethic or efficiency—if anything, it’s improved it. I know you hide behind that rule because you were once afraid to be burned by it. But you know what else? Your vision is clouded.” Tim was on a roll, amping himself up before Gibbs interrupted him.

“McGee, stop there. Now.” Gibbs’ voice turned deadly. 

“I will not stop! You love your rules so much, but guess what- they’re flawed! You yourself even burned a rule last year.” Tim saw Ellie’s jaw drop as her eyes shot to Gibbs’ back—she knew exactly which rule he burned, just for her last year. 

“McGee—“ Gibbs tried to interrupt as he took a half step towards him. 

“Your rules aren’t perfect. In fact—“ McGee scoffed, “You even have some repeat numbers. But excluding that, they’re still not perfect.” 

Gibbs just stared daggers at McGee.

“Let’s take Rule 5, first.  _You don’t waste good__._ You’re going to tell me, if you find someone you love, you should waste it? The one good thing on a dark day, the one good thing in a world filled with evil, the one good thing in your life after so much bad —“ Ellie choked out a small sob—“you should waste it? No. Because you don’t waste good.”

Gibbs continued to be speechless, so McGee rounded his desk and stood less than a few feet from him and went with it. 

“How about Rule 8:  _Never take anything for granted__._If you find love, you don’t take that for granted. Even  _I _ get this one. I almost lost Delilah once, I can’t imagine going through that again. I will never,  _ever_, take her for granted. Our workplace just won’t allow it. You-, you of all people should understand this. Is a lifetime of regret better spent than a second in love? No. because you never take anything for granted.”

Gibbs shoulders sagged, it was a minuscule movement, but McGee noticed. 

“Now for Rule 18, because I think that’s half the reason you don’t agree on  _this_ particular incidence.  _It’s better to seek forgiveness than ask permission__._ So what they didn’t come to you for your blessing? So what they’ve been secretly together for months?” Ellie and Nick both looked equally shocked, which at any other time would have been comical, but Tim needed to focus. “It’s a problem they didn’t feel the need to ask if it was okay to be in love? No. Because it’s better to seek forgiveness than ask permission.”

Tim could just barely make out the chink in Gibbs’ armor, years of fatigue shining through. He knew it was from many months spent watching Tony agonizing over Ziva and spiraling with meaningless flings to replace the whole in his heart. Then Ziva returning and the love you could see on her face accompanied with the mourning of years they missed out on together etched in her expression. If Tim saw it, he knew Gibbs saw it. Why the hell he wanted to let the same mistake happen twice, he had no flipping clue. And he’d be damned if he was going to sit back and let Gibbs asinine rule ruin another couple’s chance at love and forever. 

McGee went in for the jugular. “Finally, boss. Rule 51:  _Sometimes you’re wrong. _ You were proven wrong once with Tony and Ziva—“ Gibbs grimaced, Ellie visibly cringed, Nick wrapped his arm around her a little tighter. “You saw what years of denying their feelings did. You saw how it broke Tony, how it sent Ziva running. Your rule did that. Are you really going to let history repeat itself? No. Because sometimes you’re wrong.”

Tim paused, some of the fight leaving his body, exhaustion quickly replaced it. He was tired—tired of seeing his loved ones lose theirs. Tired of the pain, tired of the secrecy. Wasn’t Gibbs?

Shoulders loosening from their tight posture, Tim added, “And it’s okay to be wrong, as long as you own it. I learned that wise lesson a long time ago from a man I deeply respect.” Tim hoped Gibbs understood his unspoken words—_you, I respect you...but make this right. _

Tim wagered a glance over to Nick and Ellie. She could not be more on edge, the tension practically vibrating off of her. Nick wasn’t even looking in his direction, his mouth moving on her shoulder, likely murmuring words of encouragement. 

Tim drew his eyes back to the still silent figure in the middle of the bullpen. He heard rustling above at the top of the stairs, he presumed Jack was there keeping audience. Who knew how much she’d heard, but Tim was glad Gibbs would have her there as support after, however this ended. 

Wordlessly, Gibbs reached into his inner breast pocket of his blazer removing a thin strip of worn paper. Eyes affixed to the paper in the fingertips of his right hand, his other hand dove into the depths of his pants pocket retrieving a lighter. In what seemed like slow motion, Gibbs turned the strip upside down and sparked a flame. He hovered for the briefest of seconds underneath the paper before the decision was evident in his gaze. Bringing the flame to the edge he set the paper ablaze. He took the step over to the trashcan separating Nick and Tim’s desk and seconds before the flames licked at his fingers, he released it. The small strip crumbling to ash before everyone’s eyes. 

Gibbs’ flicked his gaze, eyes with an empty look, to Nick and Ellie before pausing on Tim and then up to whoever was at the stairs. He remained silent as he walked away. Feet slightly dragging, shoulders slightly hunched, you could see the weight of his past decisions and the toll it took on him. 

McGee honestly did feel for him and the guilt he likely felt, but boy was he glad  _he_ finally learned. McGee might’ve said that Gibbs was sometimes wrong, but so was he. He could’ve spoken up years ago about Tony and Ziva, but he didn’t. Too terrified of the repercussions of defying Gibbs, he stayed silent. Well he learned from his mistakes, he’d had enough. This time he spoke up, and man it paid off. Looking over to Ellie he locked eyes with her. 

Hesitantly she hedged, “Was that-, did he-?” She couldn’t voice her question, but McGee knew. 

He nodded slowly, “That was what you think it was.” Pulling open his lower desk drawer he revealed a bottle of champagne. He’d put it in there a while back, when he first suspected they might become a thing, in hopes of congratulating them whenever they finally announced it to the world. They both deserved to be happy, more so than most might realize. “Here’s to another rule burned...and you guys of course,” McGee lifted the bottle in their direction. 

Ellie shot out of her chair and was around her desk before he could blink. She threw her arms around him as the tears flowed freely. A muffled thank you was all she could muster. As she stepped back, Nick had made his way over to give him a firm handshake. Before Tim could release his hand, Nick had gripped his upper arm with his left hand. 

“Thank you, man. Really.” The emotion was thick in Nick’s voice. Tim’s own emotions forming a lump in his throat, so he nodded instead of words. 

He handed the bottle to a Nick and watched as Nick gently tugged Ellie’s hand as she’d turned to go. Spinning her around, he wrapped his arms around her, lifting her just slightly as his lips crashed to hers. A startled but happy noise escaping her mouth. 

Tim stepped back around his desk and dropped to his chair. The weight that had been on his shoulders for longer than a decade finally released. He felt the need to amend Rule 51— _ sometimes you’re wrong...but it’s never too late to make it right.  _


End file.
